New Churches Podcast

Year in Review: Episode 722 Many church planters set out to reach people with the gospel but often find their new churches full of folks from other churches. Host Ed Stetzer talks with Heiden Ratner and Vance Pitman about the challenge of staying outwardly focused to reach people far from God. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How to get a core team outwardly focused on reaching people who are not churched or not believers How God used Heiden’s “idolatry problem with basketball” to draw him to faith in Christ How a “divine appointment” gave Heiden an opportunity to meet a well-known UFC fighter and how they are trading text messages about faith What personal practices can help planters be more evangelistic and engaging people who don’t know Christ The best ways to help new believers grow in their faith and become fully devoted followers of Christ Helpful Free Resources: Developing a Core Team Church Planting Primer Church Planting Masterclass Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):  Here’s a very practical tip for this idea of building bridges into the city: Every city has a city manager and every city manager has a list of problems on their desk that’s their responsibility to solve. Go meet your city manager, build a relationship, find out what of those items on that list you can take off the list. @VancePitman I love the Major Ian Thomas quote: “The same life Jesus lived, he lives now through us.” If we’re allowing Christ to live in and through us, he’s focused on lost people. He’s seeking. He’s saving. @HeidenRatner Engaging adults who don’t know Christ leads to some messy challenges, but we must encourage people to still value that. @EdStetzer Yes, it’s messy when you when you reach people in a place like Vegas. But it’s also pure. There is a purity about the gospel from these new believers that is contagious. It creates a freshness in the body of Christ that is worth going after. @VancePitman Have the authenticity to be yourself, not feeling like you have to be somebody else in their walk with Christ. Be you. Everybody’s got a unique leaning, unique wiring, and so we’re trying to help people champion the things that make you be authentically you in the body of Christ, and you’ll find your fit. @HeidenRatner The post Year in Review: Reaching People Far from God appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 721 Many pastors intend for their church to multiply, but very few actually start new churches. Host Clint Clifton talks with John Welborn about what churches that multiply do differently than those that don’t. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The need to set aside time for leadership development, provide clarity around the vision, make your life available to developing leaders, demystify spiritual leadership, understand the financial component Helpful Resources: Free book: Church Planting Thresholds Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Almost every church planter I’m interacting with intends for his church to multiply, yet very few of them are actually sending out and starting new churches. There’s a huge gap between intention and the practice, and that gap is how difficult it is and the things you have to do day-to-day in order to make it a reality. @ClintJClifton At Salem, we lost over 50% of our church to relocations. We were put in a position to say if we don’t raise up new leaders, then we’re sunk. It’s not just a vision. It’s also something that’s in practical application on a week-to-week and month to-month basis. @JWWelborn As a church planter, as you gather your team, crystallizing and communicating the vision that this new church is not just one new church, it tends to gather the sort of people that really resonate with a multiplying vision. Crystallize that vision from Day One. @ClintJClifton You have to open your life because discipleship, as it relates to being a spiritual leader, is more than just a classroom informational setting. @JWWelborn People can’t imagine themselves becoming what you are until it’s not mystical to them anymore, until they they can understand it and see how normal it is. @ClintJClifton We always say to our church’s residents that we want to do church in such a way that the average Joe looks up at the stage and says, “I could totally do that.” @ClintJClifton If you prioritize church multiplication as an essential element of the vision God has given, then it’s going to cost you something. We are making sacrifices to provide to each neighborhood what they need most, which is a gospel-preaching church. @JWWelborn The post What Churches that Multiply Do Differently appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 719 Pastors are so overwhelmed with responsibilities that they often move the bar really low to having a maintenance mindset, rather than pursuing a vision of multiplication. Host Clint Clifton talks with John Welborn about how to move from maintenance to multiplication. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What causes pastors and churches to slip into maintenance mode How success should be defined Why a multiplication vision is essential for every church The necessity of owning where you are as a church How fear keeps a pastor from casting vision for multiplication Helpful Resources: Article: Church Planter Postpartum Depression? Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): When every decision is run through the filter of “How do I survive?” … it’s a killer for multiplication, for advancing the mission and the kingdom of God the way we’ve been called to do. @JWWelborn The reality that churches are dying all around us and every church is going to die should create this category in our mind where we say multiplication is essential because our church isn’t going to be here forever. @ClintJClifton The only hope is aggressive disciple-making, leadership development and church multiplication. @JWWelborn One of the first steps to actually becoming good at multiplication is owning where you are as a church. @ClintJClifton Advancing the kingdom is perfectly fine, but when you start trimming budgets to make room for resources, then you’ve got members, who are paying the bills, saying, “No, I don’t think so.” That’s where it gets real. @JWWelborn The worst thing for us is that isolation causes us to to slip into survival and maintenance modes. But when we’re in community and able to talk to one another, we can combat the enemy’s voice in our life and focus our energy and attention on things we know are actually right. @ClintJClifton Success in casting vision really is determined by how far down the organizational chart people are communicating that vision. @JWWelborn The post From Maintenance to Multiplication appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 717 What happens in churches when pastors don’t properly plan for someone to succeed them? Host: Clint Clifton talks with Jess Thompson and Todd Adkins about the connection between developing leaders and successfully transitioning a plant to next-stage leadership. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The difference between transitional and cultural leadership development The value of having a leadership development pipeline Why it’s important to look at succession at every level How a church’s need for different leadership gifts frees a pastor to try new things Where to get help in developing a succession plan Helpful Resources: NAMB’s Multiplication Pipeline training Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): If you’re successful in planting a church, there will come a time when you’ll start to think, “I wonder if I’m the person to lead this thing to the next stage of growth?” @ClintJClifton Churches have two choices: You can either build leaders or buy leaders. Our problem is we have gotten out of the habit of building leaders. @ToddAdkins From what I’ve observed, it seems so much driven by the pastor who’s leaving and what God is doing in their life and how they’re preparing their church for that. How prepared is the church? How attached are they to the pastor? – Jessica Thompson If you constantly develop people, you’ll find you will be able to multiply. When your time has come to transition out, you’ll be ready to do that in a way that helps the church be successful. @ClintJClifton In the maturity and stability of the church long-term, it needs its primary voice to be in the shepherd-teacher category. When a church is started, it needs its primary voice to be apostolic. @ClintJClifton Your legacy is really what happens after you leave. It’s not what you do; it’s who you develop. @ToddAdkins An amazing amount of humility is needed for all involved – the leader you’ve developed and the thing that God is calling you to do next. – Jessica Thompson The post Developing an Exit Strategy appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 716 Raising funds for a church plant in the expensive urban core of a city poses many challenges – among them the task of financing the ministry. Host Ed Stetzer talks with James Roberson and Taylor Field about their planting experiences in New York City. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The “three self formula” of planting indigenous churches How starting with a nonprofit can help structure your approach The importance of depending only on the God who called you How facilities factor into the equation Ways to prioritize missions giving in church planting Helpful Resources: Link: Bridge Church NYC Link: Graffiti Church Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The way we got our apartment was our sending church co-signed for us. It was 600 square feet and we paid close to $3,000 a month for that. — James Roberson We call it the “F word.” No one wants to talk about finances but it’s really important. — Taylor Field Play the cards you’re dealt and focus on that. People always ask, “How many sources do you have?” We say, “One source, many channels.” We do have many challenges but it’s one source: our Heavenly Father. — Taylor Field Your confidence must be categorically in God, because if it’s not, then you’re going to be depending on Big Bucks Tabernacle to fund you. I literally had individual, single-parent moms give me more than huge name churches. — James Roberson You can’t get into that corrosive mentality of “You owe me.” You’ve got to know that God called you and He will fund what He’s called you to. Once you’re convinced of that, no city can stop the call of God. — James Roberson What we said was “Lord, we don’t want to be a sofa. We want want to be a launching pad.” One of the root words for “salvation” in the Hebrew is “make a space for.” Having a space helped us become a launching pad. — Taylor Field It’s important for church planters, especially in the urban core, to look beyond our own self-interest as a church. — Taylor Field The post Financing Ministry in the Expensive Urban Core appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 715 Even if we say growth is really not a congregation’s goal, there’s a subtle pressure for our churches to always be numerically larger. Host Clint Clifton talks with Jess Thompson and Todd Adkins about five advantages to staying relatively small. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The advantage of agility in mission Why relational depth is so important What forced ingenuity means in a smaller church context Why smaller churches can handle failure better Why volunteer dependency is such a good thing Helpful Resources: Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s book: Team of Teams John Kotter books: Leading Change Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World Lawrence Miller’s book: Barbarians to Bureaucrats Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): We obviously we want to continue to reach people with the gospel. However, there are some advantages to your local church being modest in size. @ClintJClifton The advantages of staying small are numerous. You always hear the speedboat versus freight liner analogy. One is easier to maneuver than the other. @ToddAdkins A big church has more resources to put into an initiative but in large churches there’s this hesitancy toward change or doing something new. I think it’s harder to pivot to try new things when there’s this hesitancy.  – Jess Thompson When the lines of decision-making are very clear but they’re not very relational, it becomes a lot harder to do something outside the box. @ClintJClifton Relational depth is the biggest bonus for small churches. That’s what we want spiritually – to be known, by our Creator, by each other. In large churches that’s hard to do.  – Jess Thompson John Kotter says organizations start relational and nodal, then move to hierarchical. Legacy churches and organizations tend to have their lunch eaten by the upstarts, who are more relational. The secret sauce to stay relational and grow at the same time is to have both. @ToddAdkins Unfortunately the larger and more established you get, you tend to be innovative where you should be static and static where you should be innovative. But smallness allows you to say, “Oh, I can take initiative here.” It’s easier to take risks. Church planting tends to just attract people who can see that way. @ToddAdkins The post 5 Advantages of Staying Small appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 714 The complex diversity of places like New York City poses challenges and creates opportunities for church planting. Host Ed Stetzer talks with James Roberson and Taylor Field about the missiology of planting in such an environment. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What makes New York City so complex from a missiological perspective How to bridge economic disparities The missiological challenges of changing neighborhood demographics Factors that make it harder to plant a church in a place like New York City The value of compassion ministries in building relationships Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): New York City is seen as maybe the Mount Everest of church planting – a lot of folks have tried, a lot of plants have died. @EdStetzer We sometimes say New York City is a not a melting pot, it’s a tossed salad. Where we started we rebuilt a synagogue. On one side is a “squat,” where people illegally occupied the building; on the other side there’s a luxury apartments. — Taylor Field If you try to stop a person walking in New York, it’s like stopping a person mid-traffic in the South. — James Roberson In more northeastern places, some of the most welcoming Christian folks – when they get changed, man, they get changed. It’s not cultural religion. @EdStetzer Bonhoeffer says you can’t speak the words of God until you listen with the ears of God. The big thing is just to be a listener. Kindness crosses every culture. — Taylor Field Trying to get them to understand the Calvary Road – suffering and trials – takes a long time in the city. You’ve come up here with a dream. God’s not really impressed with your dream. He wants to see you be sanctified and grow. — James Roberson There’s also a missiological simplicity to New York City. Here the different people groups are all on top of each other. So there is that opportunity: every language, every tongue, everybody’s welcome. That could simplify things, rather than make it more complex. — Taylor Field The post Church Planting in the Big Apple appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 713 People talk about calling in such a subjective way that it’s a little hard to pin down, but one of the most invigorating, satisfying things a pastor can do is “tap the shoulder” of someone who demonstrates ministry leadership qualities. Host Clint Clifton talks with Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt about specific ways to “call out the called.” In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Specific ways to use the “Calling Out the Called” resources How the pastor plays a pivotal role in developing the planter Ways the book and resources provide structure to talk about things like finances, what it’s like to live in a glass bowl or how to balance marriage and ministry Indicators pastors might notice in church members that God might be calling them toward ministry The important difference between teachability and agreeability Helpful Resources: Scott and Shane’s new book Calling Out the Called Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Think about the huge impact it could have if some pastors begin to get a vision for calling out called people in their church: new churches planted, lots of new people in ministry, more ministry happening. @ClintJClifton We want to reignite the conversation of actually calling out the called – and when we do, what do we do with them? @rscott_pace Our target is to equip the equipper, to help others in their ministry leadership calling, discovering specifically what it is, and then how to mature in that. @shane_pruitt78 Pastors and other church leaders are on the front lines. They’re able to observe what they see by way of giftedness and there are some objective criteria in terms of giftedness and ability, skills, passions that you recognize in others that you say, “Hey, have you ever considered a calling to ministry?” @rscott_pace Look out for consistency, humility, teachability – and people who just love Jesus, love people, love to serve – meaning they’re already doing it without any kind of title or position, without any accolades. @shane_pruitt78 Teachability is another characteristic to look for, that they’re eager to learn and they have a passion for the church in general. They see the kingdom big picture, not just the immediate ministry need that’s in front of them. @rscott_pace I want to challenge pastors to ask, “What’s it going to take for you to be the most influential minister in another minister’s life?” @ClintJClifton The post Calling Out the Called appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 712 Seasonal community outreach isn’t a topic of widespread discussion but it’s a very practical component to the ministry of a church planter. Host Clint Clifton talks with John Ames leveraging holidays to engage the community for gospel impact. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Two common thoughts about community outreach that need to change Some diagnostic questions we should be asking ourselves about outreach events Two major considerations for planning community outreach What your goal in outreach events ought to be The importance of personal engagement and building relationships Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): There’s not a whole lot that everybody in your community agrees on but even people who aren’t Christians recognize Christmas season. Statistically speaking, in the U.S. people are a lot more likely to go to church or at least to be introspective about spiritual things around holidays. @ClintJClifton When you start to listen to and engage your community, you hear the values already in play. People are very excited during Thanksgiving or Christmastime about the idea of just pouring out resources to others and that people are entitled to compassion and kindness during that time. — John Ames Almost 20 years into church planting, I almost won’t do an event if I don’t have a community partner and I think novelty is not nearly as important as I thought it once was. @ClintJClifton I really like returning to that theological understanding that God is already on mission where where you’re going. Your goal is not to come in and create something new. Your goal is to find out where God is already at work in the community. — John Ames Sometimes we can get all excited about something we’re going to do but we don’t ever think about the person we’re serving. We just think about us and how it’s going to make us feel. — John Ames Some of it is just taking an event that’s already happening and looking for ways to make it more personal by leveraging your members to sit next to a stranger and engage them in conversation. @ClintJClifton When you provide events that pull people in and engage that shared common interest, you’re already a step ahead. — John Ames The post Seasonal Community Outreach appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 711 Is a multi-leader organization really a “two-headed snake”? Or is co-pastoring a restoration of a New Testament trend? Host Ed Stetzer talks with Jon Mollohan and Colby Garman about whether and how co-pastoring can work. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What “plurality health” means in church leadership How scriptural injunctions and culture interact in leadership structures Advantages and challenges of co-pastoring How plurality done well feeds the quality of discipleship The roles of plurality in church planting Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): I have had the privilege of planting, depending how you count, six churches and the one that probably was the most difficult was the time we tried to plant with three co-pastors. @EdStetzer Co-pastors sounds like the most difficult thing in the history of mankind to do well. Plurality health, however, is just making sure the leadership of a church is guiding one another to lead the church in a healthy way. — Jon Mollohan It’s good for us to acknowledge that we are stepping into the wise application of some ideas that don’t get entirely fleshed out for us in the New Testament. But if we value plurality, it’s worth valuing at the very highest level. @ColbyGarman Discipleship should be the greatest expression from the plurality or the leadership of the church. — Jon Mollohan Church planters have to go into the room being willing to submit to others. That’s a key thing of plurality. @EdStetzer When we broaden out the the voices that shape and define the church, we protect them against our own weaknesses and having a church built around our own strengths. We prepare the church for the day when we’re not going to be part of it. @ColbyGarman It is so much fun to be a pastor when you know the elders have your back. You know they care for you. My elders are my friends. I’m actually doing ministry with these guys. — Jon Mollohan The post Can Co-Pastoring Work? appeared first on New Churches.